One of Beckenham’s green spaces were blighted by a huge pile of dumped building waste but thankfully a company has been prosecuted for its role in the tip.

These pictures were taken at Churchfields Recreation Ground in July, just when people want to enjoy summer outdoors.

A Bromley council enforcement officer started looking into it and, six months later, found JTB Construction Limited did not use legal means to get rid of the waste and have been ordered to pay fines and costs of £1434.50

Councillor Kate Lymer, who heads up the council's public protection and enforcement, said people and businesses have duty of care to make sure people they get to carry their waste have the right licence.

She said: “Individuals and businesses have responsibilities and even if you think a company is approved because they say they have a waste carrier’s licence, it pays to check each time that the person is authorised to remove the waste and you have a waste transfer note to prove it’s legitimate.”

What happened?

Joseph Brannigan, who represented JTB Construction in court, pleaded guilty to two charges for failing in his duty of care for the safe management of waste under Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

In court, he said it sometimes uses a waste operator they thought held a waste carriers licence to get rid of construction rubbish.

This is what was left at Churchfields Recreation Ground

An employee was meant to contact the operator on the day but the person they tried to reach was unavailable – so his son’s friend collected the waste instead.

Around 15 to 20 black bags and some cardboard were taken for a £100 fee.

If you’ve seen any envirocrime, such as fly-tipping, call the police straightaway and report the details to the council at online here.

You can even get £500 for evidence that leads to successful prosecution.

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